The Niut Range is 3600km2 (c. 1390 sq mi) in area. It is a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, although in some classifications it is considered part of the Chilcotin Ranges (which in some classifications are themselves part of the Pacific Ranges). The Niut is located in the angle of the Homathko River and its main west fork, Mosley Creek. It is isolated, island-like, by those rivers from its neighbour ranges, as both streams have their source on the Chilcotin Plateau in behind the range. Razorback Mountain is its highest peak.[1]
This was the opening round of the Chilcotin War of 1864. The land-surveyed townsite of Port Waddington on today's maps is a relic of those times. the townsite had been surveyed as part of the roadbuilders Alfred Waddington' obligations in having the licence in building the road, as well as profit from the sale of lots (and some lots were sold, but the townsite never came to anything).
Attention to the route's possibilities waned since being eyed by the CPR but plans to develop the Homathko and its neighbouring rivers for hydroelectric power have been considered throughout the 20th Century by BC Hydro, the province's Crown-owned power monopoly. The Homathko by itself has immense hydroelectric potential, but full build-out as first conceived would divert the Taseko Lakes and Chilko Lake into the Homathko system via Tatlayoko Lake. Other than those diversions, which would deplete the Chilcotin River and its contribution to the Fraser, a series of dams on the Homathko and its tributaries would have generated some of the most power-per-project in British Columbia using the extra power of the water from the Chilcotin's tributaries,.
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